Supernatural: Meet Joe Black

Death is nothing to fear. It’s your time to go, Dean. And you’re living on borrowed time already. The fight’s over. You’re not the first soldier I’ve plucked from the field. They all feel the same. They can’t leave. Victory hangs in the balance. But they’re wrong. The battle goes on without them. It’s time to put the pain behind you.

Moment of truth. No changing your mind later. So what’s it going to be?

NOW:

Two guys walk out of a bar, only to be accosted in the alley by a gun wielding tweeker. He opens with a request for loose change, quickly progresses to a demand for wallets, and finishes strong with second-degree murder. Jim, he’s dead. The shooter runs off, and the victim’s friend has barely begun CPR before he gasps back to life. He feels fine. Maybe he’ll go for a walk. Jim looks down at the still smoking – but not bleeding – hole in his chest. How is he even alive right now?

Four Corners Diner. Sam hangs up a call with Bobby while Dean tries to Fonzie the jukebox. Heh. Tuneless, he returns to the table where Sam gives him the sitrep on a town in Wyoming that’s had no deaths in the last week and a half. Not so unusual on the surface – except for the dying hospice patient who suddenly got up and went home or our mugging victim from the cold open. Locals are calling it a miracle, but Sam thinks it has to be something nasty. People making deals maybe? He’s keen to check it out, and tells Dean to get his breakfast burger to go. Dean remains seated and continues chewing deliberately as Sam packs up and makes to leave. What? Is Sam sure he wants Dean to come with? Dean wouldn’t want to hold him back. Oh, Dean. Petulant does not suit you. An exasperated Sam tells him for the hundredth time it was the Siren talking, not him. Can they get past this? Dean throws down his half eater burger and unconvincingly says, “Yeah, we’re past it.”

Greybull, WY, home of Jim Jenkins. The boys are posing as bloggers for Floored by the Lord dot com. ”All of God’s glory fit to blog.” Hee. He can’t explain what happened, and he’s no saint, but he just knows the Lord is giving him a second chance. He feels like angels are watching over him. Dean cycles through a range of emotions as he listens to Mr. Bon Jovi tell his story. He wants to be cynical and skeptical, but at the mention of angels, there’s a knowing that creeps in despite himself. A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth in recognition of a shared experience. A shared hope. Sam takes the bad cop role this time, asking Mr. Jenkins if he’s maybe swung by a cross roads lately? Maybe met someone with black eyes … or red? They get a negative on all counts, and Dean quickly ends the interview.

Later, the boys regroup at the motel. Sam’s interview with the cancer survivor turned up no signs of a deal either. Dean’s been on research, and hasn’t found any deaths in the town since Cole Griffith ten days earlier. Dean the doubter is surprisingly quick to accept that they’re in the midst of a miracle outbreak. Sam the believer asks when in their experience miracles have just happened? If souls aren’t getting dragged into the light, maybe it’s because there’s no one to carry them. Maybe the town’s reaper has left the building. Taken a holiday, as it were. Sam suggests talking to Cole. He was the last person to die, so he might have seen something. Dean smiles at how matter of fact Sam is about talking to a dead person. ”Strange lives.”

That night, they set up shop around Cole’s grave. Dean is perched on a headstone flipping through John’s demonic day planner, while Sam prepares the ritual. Dean is skeptical it’s even going to work, but more than that, he’s disturbed by the whole situation. ”You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse, hey, let’s light it up right? But, but this? If we fix whatever this is, people are going to start dropping dead. Good people.” Sam doesn’t like it any more than Dean does, but there is a natural order to things. Dean throws an irony flag on the play, calling them the “poster boys” for the unnatural order. All they do is ditch death. Sam comes back with “Yeah, but the normal rules don’t really apply to us, do they?” Oh, Sam. I know what you think you mean here, but you are dancing on the raggedy edge. Dean is incredulous, saying they’re no different from anybody else. Sam o rlys, “I’m infected with demon blood, and you’ve been to Hell.” Dean may want to think he’s just a guy, but he’s not, and neither is Sam. The sooner he accepts that the better off he’ll be. Dean responds with a weary eye roll and heavy sigh.

He reluctantly moves to help Sam finish things up, when they’re interrupted by the cemetery caretaker. Dean tries to convince him that it’s not what it looks like *cough* devil worship *cough*, but he’s got nothing. The man tells them they’re not going anywhere, and then his eyes flip white. Alastair. Sorry he can’t chat; he’s got a hot date with death. With that, he waves his hand and sends Dean flying through the air, crashing into a tombstone. Nighty night. He tries – and fails – to do the same to Sam. *flick* **flick flick flick** Sam’s gotten stronger. Alastair has no idea, but gets the picture when he finds himself airborne and pinned to a tree. Sam reaches out a confident hand of great vengeance and furious anger, but the demon vacates before he can be pulled.

Back at the motel, a concussed Dean is sprawled out on the bed with a cold compress to his head. He tries to fill in the blanks of what happened after he was knocked out. Why couldn’t Alastair fling Sam? He chucked him pretty good last time. Sam unconvincingly pleads ignorance. No idea. Has Sam always been this bad a liar? Or is it that he just can’t lie to Dean? Either way, Dean’s not having it. ”Sam, do me a favor. If you’re going to keep your little secrets, I can’t really stop you. Just don’t treat me like an idiot, okay?” Shifty McShifterson insists he’s not keeping secrets. Dean holds Sam’s gaze an uncomfortable moment before “mmm-hmm, whatever”ing in non-answer, and then returning to the case. Did Sam go back and Q+A the dead kid? He didn’t have to – Bobby called … again. Some more. He thinks the reapers are gone, but more than that, he fears they’ve been kidnapped for nefarious demonic purposes. Kill a reaper under the solstice moon, and another seal is broken. Sam’s at a loss as to how they’re going to save an invisible being. The only people who can see them are the dead and the dying. Dean gets his adorable thinkie bright idea face. ”Well, if ghosts are the only ones who can see them … then we become ghosts.”

To do that, they’re going to need a little help from Pamela Barnes, best darn psychic in the state. She however, thinks the plan is crazy, and says so the minute Sam opens the motel room door. Dean gives him a look that says he’s been getting an ear full on that topic for three states. Sam tries to break the ice by telling Pamela – who you will remember had her eyes BURNED OUT OF HER FOOL SKULL by Castiel – that she’s a sight for sore eyes. Dean goes completely still in disbelief, and Sam cringes as Pamela wonders what he says to deaf people. She lets the moment pass, and asks who was the brainiac that came up with astral projection. That would be Dean – or, Chachi, as she calls him. Heh. She clarifies that they actually want to rip their souls out of their bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world. Yup. That’s what they want to do. Pamela is decidedly less sassy and more cranky about being hauled back into the middle of their “angel/demon, soc/greaser” mess. Dean makes the case that everything they know is going to go bye-bye if they don’t stop the seals from being broken. They need her help.

As the boys light candles and set the mood, Pamela tries one last time to dissuade them. Even if they do break the veil and find the reaper, how are they going to save it? They’ll be two walking pieces of fog. They won’t be able to touch or move anything. Style and class will only get them so far. Otherwise they’ll be defenseless. Sam can recall numerous instances of ghosts wailing on them, but Pamela says they had plenty of time to practice. The boys are determined though. Realizing she’s got a couple of big damn heroes on her hands, they begin.

The boys lay stretched out on the beds – Sam diagonally, heh – while Pamela Latinates. Okay boys. Showtime. Dean sits up, and asks what Plan B is. Oh, silly boy. Can’t you tell by the color shift and blue-green filter on the camera that it worked? Apparently he can’t. When Pamela doesn’t answer, Dean looks first at Sam on the bed, and then over his shoulder … to see Sam standing behind him. He quickly turns, and confirms his own body hasn’t moved. Pamela addresses the air, and reminds them she has to bring them back. She says she’ll whisper the incantation in their ear. She bends down to Sam, and tells him he has a great aspiration. Sam just grins.

They wander out onto the street, only to have a jogger run right through Sam. Dean is rather delighted by their state of non-being. He sticks his arm through Sam’s chest, earning a massive B-face. Is he making Sam uncomfortable? ”Get out of me” is his terse reply. Dean calls him a prude, and tell me that little exchange wasn’t a shout out to the slash writers. Heh. After several hours of searching, they haven’t found any demons or smoke, so Dean thinks it’s time to go to Victoria’s Secret and get their peep on. Sam suddenly notices a kid across the street. Is he crazy, or is the kid looking at them? Dean ID’s him as Cole Griffith, and he flickers out of sight.

Upstairs in his room, Cole’s grieving mother talks to the air. Is he still there? A soccer ball begins to spin, and then flies through the air, hitting the door just behind her. In tears, she rushes out of the room, walking right through the boys. Cole continues to hurl balls at them. Sam tries to calm him down, and gently breaks the news that he’s dead. He’s a spirit now. Duh. Thanks for the news flash Haley Joel. Heh. I like this kid.

Downstairs, Mom pours herself a tall glass of sweet, sweet healing booze. Cole looks at her, sad and longing, and tells his story. The cold weather brought on an asthma attack, and before he knew what was happening he was standing there … looking down on his own body. A creepy old guy in a black suit appeared, but Cole didn’t want to go with him. Then the black smoke came. He hid in the closet, and when he came out, the black smoke and the reaper were gone. He doesn’t know where they went, but he knows where the smoke is now. Just then the lights start flickering. Cole goes wide-eyed with fear and zaps away – they’re back! The boys are hit with a gust of wind, and turn to see a gauzy white something blow up the stairs. It’s another reaper. They rush over, Dean calling out to it that they need to talk. As they reach the foot of the stairs, a beautiful dark haired woman meets them. It’s Tessa! Yay Tessa! She greets Dean, and much to his surprise tells him they go way back.

They walk into the living room. Tessa teases Dean about not remembering her. He goes for a light tone, joking about having a nickel for every time he heard a girl say that, but he’s not smiling as he says it. Tessa refreshes his memory. She kisses him, and the events of “In My Time of Dying” come flooding back. A stunned Dean never breaks eye contact with her as he tells Sam she was the reaper that came after him in the hospital after the accident with John (Metallicar, NOOOOO!!). Tessa isn’t interested in their “angel/demon dance off” and she’s not concerned about being the next one snatched. This town is off the rails, and she just wants to do her job. Dean manages to convince her to hold off until they talk to Cole and find out where the demons are. She agrees – because who can say no to Dean when he says “please” – but wants to be clear. When the reaping resumes, she’s starting with the kid. Sam heads upstairs to find him.

He walks into Cole’s room, and slowly sinks to the floor next to the half open closet door. We can see Cole over his shoulder, huddled in the corner. Sam never looks at him. He can’t. He may have changed since Dean went to Hell, but he still can’t bring himself to lie to this poor scared boy’s face. He opens with empathy. It must all be overwhelming. It can’t be easy to see his mom’s pain. He might want to ease up on the flying soccer balls. They’re quiet a moment, and then Cole says he’s not telling him where the smoke is. Sam’s eyes are sad, but he steels himself for what he has to do. And then he lies. As unconvincing as he was with Dean, he is very persuasive here. His face a calm mask, he tells Cole that if he helps, he never has to leave. He can stay with his family, for as long as he wants. Tessa won’t bother him. Sam can make sure of it. He swears. He grits the word out and it tastes like ashes in his mouth.

Well played, Padalecki.

Downstairs, Dean and Tessa are having a heart to heart. She’s a little flirty – or as flirty as a reaper can be. He’s the one that got away after all. He’d be surprised how little that happens to her. Dean decides to take a chance and confide in her. After their last meeting, for that whole year (Season 2, basically) he felt like he had a hole in his gut. Like he was missing something. He didn’t know then what it was, but it was Tessa. ”The pain of losing my father, and Sammy? I just … I wish I’d gone with you for good.” It’s not easy for him to get the words out. Saying it out loud makes it real. Saying it out loud is admitting to himself he chose to stop fighting. He chose rest. But things are different now. Despite the horrible things he’s done, someone upstairs still decided to give him a second chance. Tessa looks pained by his words, and almost seems like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his naïveté. All she gives him is a loaded, ” … uh-huh.” Anything more is left unsaid as Sam and Cole rejoin them. Tessa is warm and kind as she greets Cole, telling him she’s not going to hurt him. He then tells them how he saw the black smoke at the funeral home during his service. It was everywhere. And then, cue the flickering lights. Seconds later the front door blows open, the room is engulfed, and just as quickly it’s over. Only Tessa isn’t there anymore.

This next scene is wildly entertaining. Outside on the porch, Dean glares intensely at a whirligig. Like, pop a blood vessel in his eye, soil himself intensely. He manages to get the wheel to spin a 1/4 turn. Woot! Cole is unimpressed. ”Okay Yoda, let’s see what you got.” With barely a furrowed brow, Cole spins the wheel, sets the porch swing to swinging, and the wind chimes to tinkling. The boys are duly impressed. ”Dude! You are so Amityville!” Cole delights in the approval. And that’s not even the good stuff. Inside, he drives a fist – HARD – into Sam’s side. He Swayzes that if they want to hit something, they just have to get mad. He tells Dean to try hitting him, but he demurs. He’ll stick to picking on somebody his own size. Cole pimp slaps him. In response to Sam’s laughter, he turns and tells him to hit him as hard as he can. Sam’s not going to do Fight Club with a 12-year old. Cole punches him in the face. Sam blocks his next blow, and as he swings at him, Cole zaps away, reappearing on the other side of the room. ”You gotta teach us that!”

Training concluded, the boys approach the funeral home. The exterior is covered with signs and sigils that seem to glow in the dark. ”It looks like New Jack City. Can nobody see this?” The boys cautiously make their way inside, and find the two unconscious reapers laid out on the floor in the middle of another large sigil. They’re guarded by a demon. Let’s see what Dean learned, shall we? He flickers out, and reappears directly behind the demon. He gives him a tap on the shoulder, and then cold cocks him as soon as he turns around. Sam does the same, and they take turns beating the holy heaven out of the guy. They kind of like being ghosts. Only, IT’S A TRAP! As soon as they have demon #1 backed up onto the dais, demon #2 comes from stage left and binds them in place with an iron chain. Well that didn’t turn out at all as they expected. Alastair then appears, and takes turns shooting them with rock salt. Not so much fun anymore, is it? Banter banter demon blah, and hey, did you guys think to take any precautions to safe guard your bodies and Pamela? Back at the hotel, she turns the bolt and puts the chain on the door … like that’s going to do any good. There’s nary a salt line or hex bag in sight. Seriously, boys? Seriously. A demon appears in the room, and Pamela makes a break for it, desperately trying to whisper the incantation into Sam’s ear.

At the funeral home, Alastair is ready to get started. He holds up a hand scythe, courtesy of an old friend. You know he doesn’t really ride a pale horse. No, from what I’ve read, he drives a muscle car. Spoiler! He neatly dispatches the first reaper, and then moves on to my pretty, pretty girlfriend. Sam and Dean concentrate on the light fixture hanging just above him, both nearly shaking from the effort. It drops from the ceiling, and breaks the bounds of the sigil. Tessa flickers away just in the nick of time, and releases the boys. Buh-bye.

Dean and Tessa reappear outside on the street, but Sam is nowhere in sight. At the hotel, Pamela is still trying to finish the incantation while being tossed around the room like a rag doll. Sam comes back to his body just as the demon guts Pamela with a knife. Sam immediately pins the demon to the wall, and pulls it from its meatsuit with little effort. As it flames out on the floor, he rushes to Pamela, who laughs. She can’t die. Not in this town. There’s a gash in her stomach, but no blood. Sam tells her she needs a doctor, but she tells him she needs a drink more. Um, no I think you need to get your aspirations to an ER, and with quickness. Seriously, why do you guys not go to the hospital??

Dean meanwhile is walking the streets looking for Sam, only to run into Alastair … who is zapped by a bolt from above, leaving nothing behind. ”What the hell??”

“Guess again.” Hah! Also, hi Castiel! We’ve missed you!

He tells Dean that tonight is a victory. They saved a seal and captured Alastair. Party hats for all! Dean’s not feeling very celebratory. Thanks for the heavenly assist – not. Castiel explains that the markings on the funeral home prevented the angels from entering. Why do you think he recruited them in the first place? That wasn’t Bobby that called. It wasn’t Bobby who told Sam about the seal. Dean is irate. If Castiel wanted their help, why didn’t he just ask? As thought talking to a sulky teenage, Castiel points out that whatever he asks, Dean seems to do the exact opposite. Heh. Dean makes the “good people” plea again in hopes of preventing the undead from being called home. Castiel simply quotes The Byrds. But you made an exception for Dean.

“You’re different.”

With the fluttering of wings Castiel is gone, and Tessa walks up. She could use his help.

Back at the house that death forgot, Cole watches his mother page through his baby book. They’re each tormented by the loss of the other. Dean and Tessa appear behind him. No longer in street clothes, she’s now wearing a white nightgown of DOOM! Cole turns accusing doe eyes on Dean, and says, “Tell your brother, thanks for nothing.” Tessa gently explains he has to go. As long as his mother can feel him, she’ll be in pain. She can’t let go until he lets go of her. Cole wants to know why no one will tell him what’s on the other side. Tessa non-answers that she can’t ruin the surprise. Dean says she won’t answer. Reapers never do. But trust him, staying here is a whole lot worse than what’s over there. Because one day, his family will be gone, and there will be nothing left here for him. Cole looks at his mother again, and Dean tells him it’s okay to be scared. That’s the big secret. Everybody is scared. Cole continues to look to Dean for reassurance, and asks if he’s coming. ”Oh, I’m sure I’ll be there sooner than you think.” With one final longing look at his mother, Cole makes up his mind. He’s ready to go. He walks toward Tessa, who reaches out her arms to embrace him. In a blaze of bright white light he’s gone.

Dean tells Tessa to look out for Cole, and she tells him to look out for himself. She has a few parting words of wisdom for him. ”I’ve been around death from the get go. You know what I see most? Lies. ’He’s in a better place.’ ’At least they’re together now.’ You all lie to yourselves, Dean. ’Cause like you said, deep down, you’re all scared. Stop lying to yourself Dean.” He’s been tracking with her up to this point, but now he’s taken aback. Her words are not unkind, just matter of fact. She’s trying to help him. ”The angels have something good in store for you? A second chance? Really? Because I’m pretty sure, deep down, you know something nasty is coming down the road. Trust your instincts, Dean. There’s no such thing as miracles.” And with that, she too is gone.

At the hotel, a rapidly fading Pamela calls Dean back to his body. Sam helps her onto the bed, and says they just have to talk to Tessa. Based on the blood now flowing freely through her fingers, Pamela is pretty sure she’s back on the job. Dean loudly gasps awake as Pamela takes a swig from her flask. She reiterates she didn’t want anything to do with this. And they can tell that SOB Bobby Singer to rot for ever introducing her to the two of them in the first place. Dean tries to tell her she’s going to a better place, but she knows he’s lying. And why are we all just sitting here watching her die instead of calling 911?? She tells Sam to come here, as though to give him a final embrace, but instead she whispers in his ear. ”I know what you did to that demon, Sam. I can feel what’s inside of you. If you think you’ve got good intentions, think again.” And with that, she dies. Farewell, sweet Sassela. Dean asks what she said to him, but Sam keeps his secrets.

The episode closes with a simple tribute to director Kim Manners, dedicating the entire season to him, and ending with “We Miss You, Kim.”

Just a darn fine, solid episode. And I mean that in no way as faint praise. I’m so happy they brought Lindsey McKeon back as Tessa. I like the chemistry between her and Jensen, and I really enjoy her characterization of the reaper. She has that detached otherworldly quality, but unlike Castiel, she’s not really curious about humans. She’s been around us long enough to know how we tick. She’s not bored but us exactly, just single minded. She has a job to do, and that doesn’t allow much time to become involved. But she’s not without compassion. She understands our fear, and doesn’t want to prolong it. Her final scene with Cole was really lovely and well done. And I think I kind of ship Dean and Tessa, but not as much as I ship him and CRD2. I know, right? Color me dark and twisty.

Their first conversation also casts an interesting light on Season 2. It wasn’t just that Dean felt guilty about John’s deal. When he says “I should have stayed dead.” he’s talking about a choice he made. Even if he can’t remember it, he can feel it. You can see it in “In my Time.” Just before the YED possesses Tessa, you can see Dean giving in. She’s made a pretty good case, and he’s just so tired. If he felt like he wasn’t worth John’s sacrifice, I think in part it’s because he thinks he gave up. Oh, Dean.

Their chat also plays into a pattern of Dean confiding in people other than Sam. People that somehow he instinctively knows won’t judge him - Gordon, Jamie, Anna, and now Tessa. I feel like he was a lot more open with Sam in Season 3, and maybe this re-discovered reluctance to share is just another symbol of how far apart they’ve grown. He’s gone back to a pattern of only letting his feelings bleed through the cracks when they’re already threatening to blow him apart.

As much as we’re revisiting the rocky Season 1 relationship between the boys, this season has been about role reversal. I think the cemetery scene begins to define something that will come into sharp relief in just a few episodes in “Jump the Shark.” Sam’s words about the rules not applying echo Dean’s from “Skin.”

DEAN: You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they’d be freaked. It’s just–it’d be easier if–

SAM: If I was like you. DEAN: Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I’ll tell you one thing. This whole gig–it ain’t without perks.

Of course when Dean says it then, he’s just talking about the whole “shooting monsters with rock salt / family cursed by a demon” thing. It’s not exactly something you can bring up in casual cocktail conversation. When Sam says it now, I read an undertone of justification. It’s almost like the Dirty Harry attitude that if the bad guys ignore the rules, then you can too, if that’s what it takes to get the job done. It’s one more step along the slippery slope.

It’s also interesting to me to note that at the time of “Skin,” Sam still planned to resume his normal life. They were going to find Dad, find Jessica’s killer, and then he was done with hunting. He was going back to normal. So it’s almost jarring to hear him now say with such conviction that they’re not normal. They’re not like everybody else. And for Dean – who has always seemed to revel in his outsider status – to try and insist that they are. Strange lives.

4 Responses

Thanks for another great recap. I particularly enjoy it when you put your critic’s cap on and connect the episode to the overall arc. And yes, that promo is hauntingly good. Apparently they’re planning on putting a longer version of the song up at the CW site in the near future.

I’m right there with you about Dean and Tessa! Jensen and Lindsay have great chemistry. I liked this episode because I think we got a lot of insight into the headspace of both brothers. I think Dean needed to hear that he needs to trust his instincts and I’m glad Tessa pushed him to question the angel’s intentions. It’s just too bad that Sam didn’t listen to Pam’s warning as well. Excellent recap, thanks.